Hollow Eyes
by IVIaedhros
Summary: Because we forget that our Hero was only a child in mind when awakened...


_Those who have crossed  
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom  
Remember us--if at all--not as lost  
__Violent souls, but only  
As the hollow men__  
The stuffed men._

**Rauru**

So the flow of time itself is redirected down a new course. Oh Zelda, I fear your compassion for the Hero's sufferings may have doomed us all to repeat this tragedy.

**The Great Deku Tree**

He is…changed. I do not how, but he is. Why did he come to me asking to see someone he has never met, why does he gaze upon me in guilt mingled with awe?

**Navi**

I feel guilty, even though I don't really have a reason to. "_Navi…you…you don't remember?"_ I'm sorry, Link, but I don't remember. What don't I remember Link?

**Skull Kid**

Eeehehehehehehehe!!! One of us, one of us, come join in. All that's missing is the mask!

**Saria**

Why won't you smile anymore Link? You walk around in a daze, ignoring everyone and everything when you used to be so-so _alive_. Please…please tell me. Did you have a nightmare that you didn't wake up from?

**Mido**

Some people have all the luck. Just a few weeks ago you couldn't even get him out of bed. Now he's hunting wolfos packs and back flipping off of houses.

**Castletown Guard**

I tell ya, it's so nice to finally meet a kid who's respectful of us; no name calling, no throwin' rottin vegetables, no spitting, no indecent exposure, no trying to steal our gear or sneak past us…huh, now where'd he go?

**Impa**

Zelda may trust him, but I do not. No child should move the way he did or speak as he does; no child should look at someone like he's a surgeon deciding what to remove.

**Zelda**

Oh goddesses, he remembers too. Why didn't you spare him? Why did I have to fail with the one person who I owe everything?

**Lord Jabu-Jabu**

Worthy.

**Biggoron**

Kid knows his weapons. Can't believe he actually carries eye drops around with him.

**Twinrova**

This can't be happening! We did not foresee him. Did he foresee us? Wait, what's that light…

_THIS IS ALL __YOUR__ FAULT!!!//THIS IS ALL __YOUR __FAULT!!!_

**Damp****é**

He knows man, he just _knows_. Someway or another, kid's seen beyond the Veil and passed over the Chasm.

**Darunia**

It was crazy. I mean, one minute I'm standing next to my throne, getting' my groove on, then **knock knock knock**. Next thing I know, this little green shrimp pops out from behind my chair and tells me I really need to sweep up the rubble and, "Oh yea, don't worry about the dodongos."

**Happy Mask Salesman**

Some people don't need masks.

**Cow**

_Just what does he _do _with all that milk anyway?_

**Po****e**

We feel his hate: burning, burning it pursues us. There is no escape.

**Frog****s**

Maestro!

**Princess Ruto**

What a jerk! Why wouldn't he take my gift?

**Stalfos**

_Haha, I haven't __had __this good a work out in years!_

**Lake Scientist**

Oh no, no, no, no…no my young sir, I am sorry, but he's not for sale. What would you have done with old Big White anyway? Throw him into Zora's Domain and watch the havoc? Ohohohoho!

**Great Fairy**

He has been fractured. And not only his spirit and mind, but his destiny as well.

**Iron Knuckle**

_Hold…still…_

**Zora**

I wonder what that boy has against crows…

**Mido**

Don't you understand?! He's got to go _now_! Look…look at what he did to me! If not for Saria I'd be…w-what do you mean he's disappeared?

**Carpenter**

I'm telling ya', that ain't no kid: some kind of demon or twisted guardian spirit. "I have a feeling that tomorrow the road to Gerudo Fortress will be safe to travel," he says and then disappears that night. Next day, we're diddly-bopping right through a right graveyard. He got them _all_.

**Bomb Lady**

Plan on storming a fortress or two?

**Kaepora Gaebora**

The poor boy…no matter where he runs he can't escape the past that was and yet will be.

**Nabooru**

Cute, courteous and he has a killer sword arm. I can't wait to see him when he puts on a few inches.

**Saria**

_Link…Link….please__ answer me…._

**King Zora**

Amazing, that a child could possess such knowledge, such cunning; such skill! Lord Jabu-Jabu favored us the day Link stumbled on my lost daughter.

**Bunny Mask Man**

How does he keep beating me?!

**Fairy**

He gazes at me with such longing…

**Malon**

Shhhh…it's ok Link…it'll be ok. You…you'll see. You'll be ok.

**Windmill Man**

He's back again, back again.

**Darunia**

Look at you Link: you have years to go before you even reach breeding age, but you're the greatest warrior I've ever met. What do you have to be sad for? I pray to the ancestors that someone will lift your spirits as you did mine.

**Kariko Witch**

What do you mean, "It gave me a rash in the underbrush?" Can't you forest folk speak plain….oh…ehrm, yes, I…see.

**Cuckoo Lady**

Awww, he's so _cute_

**Castletown Children**

He's so _cool!_

**Medigoron**

He's so _short_.

**Gold Skulltula**

_He is searching, always searching…._

**Nabooru**

When did you get so old kid?

**Cuckoo**

_That hat would make such a nice nest._

**Ruto**

What the heck is _wrong _with you? Why are you always so angry at me?!

**Ingo**

That kid's got a serious attitude problem. I don't care how hard he works.

**Talon**

ZzZzZzzz

**Malon**

I'm sorry Link, I'm sorry! Just tell me what I did wrong!

**Potions Merchant**

Sweet Nayru and Din kid! What do you do all day? Wrestle gorons, bathe with jellyfish, pick fights with…erm, yes, here's your change, thankyouhaveagreatdayreallymustbegoingbye!

**Zelda**

Link, you've got to stop, stop or you're going to kill yourself and then what will it all have been for? You're not the only one who suffered! _Do you think __I __sleep well at night?_

_A/N:__ As I alluded to in the summary, it's an important, if often forgotten, fact that Link __never even reached twelve__ years old me__ntally. I can only see two ways of dealing with this as a writer__. One: because of his destiny, Link is mentally and physically wired to take on the tasks that he performed. This implies that he is so far from the human norm as to be nearly inc__onceivable.__ Think Hannibal Lector or Bruce Wayne different.__ Two:__ He pulled a Frodo on us and only managed to get through his experiences with severe (if not all bad) __trauma__ to his mind.__ I did the second simply because it was more suited to drabble form…really, I'm surprised that more people h__a__ven't brought the topic of Link's mental age up.__ Likewise the__re's__ idea of Zelda's fully adult mind in her child's body._

_Although I'm pretty sure that it will never become cannon (if there even is such a thing when talking Zelda timelines), I like to imagine the Ocarina of Time started the whole mess. What should have been a singular event turned into a tragedy where the actors are __forever doomed to repeat themselves throughout history.__ I credit Lael Adair and his __Fall from Grace__ for indirectly inspiring this vie__w__point._

_Opening quote by T.S. Elliot._


End file.
